Wait for Me
by Shadowed Chaos
Summary: Re-written; Powerlinking to an Original was different. Neither expected the bond to linger nor did they expect to see each other again. But Fate had other ideas and everyone's fate now barrels down a different path as destinies are reforged by choice... or force. Mild crossover with Galaxy Force/Cybertron.
1. Chapter 1

**Notes:** A re-write of the original 'Wait for Me', it starts off as Post Galaxy Force/Cybertron, moves into Dynasty of Primes pre- fall and carries on from there. Locations this is also posted can be found on my profile.

I would like to give a huge shout out to everyone who originally reviewed this, along with my fantastic beta who poked me into picking this (and several others) up again.

****Wait for Me, chapter one.****

The bond had never faded like it _should_ have, and Safeguard had become even more closed from the rest of the crew on the ship. He knew he shouldn't have, but it was- He felt _incomplete_. He felt- not useless, but close to it. He felt - not unwanted, but _left behind_. Like a weapon thrown away, unwanted - unneeded._Useless, worthless_, some dark, insidious part whispered. He left as you were weak, not powerful enough, that part of him had once said. At the time Safeguard had ignored it. It was **not** true.

Now he was no longer so sure. No longer so certain of things. He was just a minicon, a defensive-weapon, but still a weapon. It was possible..? No. He'd fought with his partner - his _master_ if he was truly honest with himself - side by side, against the traitors that served the Chaos Bringer. Then Vector Prime had sacrificed his life for a good cause. There had been _no other way_ to make sure the Unicron singularity had been stopped. He knew that Vector hadn't taken the action lightly.

But echoes of the bond remained. Faint but there, they drove his programming in circles as it struggled to compensate. Not that Safeguard had any idea why this was happening. He put it down to a design quirk in the minicon Programming, to the fact that he was Gigantion in design. Instinctively he knew otherwise.

It _**hurt**_.

They - the other minicons on the ship - didn't understand, didn't get why he was so hostile to them.

They had what he had, but physically the partner was there. Safeguard could only see what he didn't have; a partner - a master - something that on the very base level of coding and sparks and all that other junk, defined his very existence as a Minicon.

And after almost half a megavorn of this, he'd turned bitter and cold. What he wanted most of all he couldn't have. It hardly helped that sometimes he thought he heard Vector's voice, felt him - _saw_ him even, but he relentlessly shoved all that away. It was **not** reality and no matter how much he wanted it?

His desires would _never_ become real. He'd never see his partner again, never be 'complete'. His only hope was for the bond break and that mere thought _**scared**_ him.

/-/-/

"He's gone to the Sky."

"You shouldn't say that." Another voice whispered. Safeguard's head jerked up, optics narrowing. Not _this_ talk again.

"Why? It's true. Everyone knows he has. He's insane."

"Boltbar! He's still grieving, that's all..."

"What sane mech would bury themselves in work for a megavorn and call that grieving? What sane mech would push us all away? He's insane. Face it. Maybe his partner did something to him and made him that way. It wouldn't be the first. Remember what the Slagmaker did to Leader-one and Starcream did to Swindle."

"I don't think it's like that. Swindle's still… well. Sane. Mostly."

The first speaker laughed, her voice ringing out down the hallway. "Think what you will, but it's true. Safeguard's gone to the Sky."

Safeguard bit down the growl. It didn't stop the flash of hurt from colouring his optics. They were comparing him to legitimately insane minicons. Not that he'd correct them. It had been... how _long had the bond been in this state _with the voices of self doubt and _worthlessness_? He didn't know nor care. He was consumed by the drive to find someone he'd never see again. It was a never ending cycle of pain and despair. The medics had brought him out of the last shutdown. Safeguard had screamed at them for it. They didn't understand. _No one_ understood and yet they compared him to Leader-one and Swindle, both minicons who were _able_ to forge a linx with another bulk.

Minicons who had lost their partner asked him why he was so bitter and cold.

When he told them, they didn't understand.

"Shut up." He snarled as the approached were he was. They fell back, a little fear in the optics. He didn't blame them. He'd long forgone any semblance of civility around others. He was only around as the bulks refused to let him go off on his own, citing that it was too dangerous. Safeguard thought they just didn't want to lose a potential partner. At least with the Gigantion bulks they'd been upfront in their desires. "You know nothing!"

"Wha- Safeguard!"

He ignored them as he stalked off, yellow optics narrowed. He had to leave and _never_ return.

Less than a cycle later he was just a small jet zooming away from the ship; alone with his increasingly unstable mind and core programming that would see him crash and burn than fly in a straight line.

Safeguard didn't care. He'd long ago tried to stop working out why this was.

/-/-/

Somewhere in the Tyran cluster, red optics brightened in surprise as the owner let out a startled sound as his optics turned green, data scrawling over his HUD in short, rapid bursts. A space-time-_dimensional_ tear had opened. It was _impossible_. But, if the fading energy signature was to be an indicator of how the new arrivals - arrival, he corrected himself, senses stretched out - had reached _this_ cluster, apparently not. He smiled a little. It had been a long time. To long, perhaps. But why would they be brought here? There wasn't a nee -

Something ghosted over his armour, modifying and adding. The Prime raised an optic ridge as the ghost-feeling left. "Then so be it."

"What is it, Master?"

Red optics looked at the Seeker that stood by him, and he smiled. "Come Skyfire. There is someone that I want you to meet. It's been a long time..."

Skyfire nodded. "As you wish, Master Prime."

Drawing his twin blades, the Prime opened a spacebridge.

/-/-/

He was tired of this strange place he'd found himself in. Yet it was peaceful here. The bond had seemingly settled, but the damage was done. Safeguard wanted to rest. To join his fallen brothers and sisters in the long rest.

But something tugged at him, something held him back, and he knew - knew that feeling. The feeling that everything was going to be alright and somehow, he trusted it.

Trusted the hands that reached and pried him out of his resting place. He offered up only a token whimper. He knew these hands - hands with claws - familiar, yet not - _trusted them to keep him safe_. Trusted them as one closed around him, gently, caring. He **_knew_** who this was.

"Why..."

"Rest, my friend."

As he felt Safeguard settle, the Prime looked down at the minicon that was curled up in his hands. By Primus, he hadn't expected to see the little one again and while his form had changed to fit the designs of the cluster, there was the unmistakable sign that Primus had only _adapted_ the minicon format. Vector wasn't about to complain. Though he was saddened to see the effects the Chaos Bringer's programming had had on the minicon. He had his suspions about why his friend was in such a state and they tied into his status as an Original. How and why this was, he didn't know yet.

To think he'd once despised the idea of letting something the Chaos Bringer made attach to him.

He ran a claw over tiny wings gently, humming. It was a low note; one he knew would help ease the troubles. For now.

"It is so small..." Skyfire looked at the little thing so gentle cradled in his Master's claws, confused. He'd never known the Prime to cradle anything so reverently, aside from the Matrix. It was almost like this new thing meant so much to his Master. Yet he wouldn't ask. It was not his place to know the reasoning.

"He's also a long way from his original cluster. I... am unsure as to what power brought him here." A white lie. The Seeker need only know what he wanted him to know.

"I see. Does he have a name, Master?"

"Safeguard."

"It is a nice name. Shall I warp us back to Cybertron, Master?"

"Please." He didn't want to risk his own powers, not with how faint the minicon seemed to be. Better to have the servant have that task, than risk this second chance that Primus had given.

Plus, he wasn't sure if Safeguard would be able to withstand the current method of space bridging.

/-/-/

Safeguard stirred with a groan and a blink as optics rezzed, unfamiliar data pouring into his CPU. Instinctively, he reached for the bond, letting out a squawk when it was _there_. There and as solid as it could _get._

"It's not a dream, my friend."

"Sir?" He blinked, then blinked again, looking up at the unfamiliar yet familiar face. A voice that he knew came from it and he frowned a little, uncertainly playing out over his face.

"Indeed. My latest incarnation, if you will. Or concurrent, I suppose."

Safeguard just stared blankly, optics blinking. "Bwah? But you.."

"Died?"

"No..." And then his voice took on a lecture tone that Vector knew only too well. The slight smile didn't seem to endear him to his minicon any, though. "Said that you would be _Outside_ of Time."

"In that cluster, yes. I was needed here."

Safeguard nodded, seeming to accept it. He could puzzle everything out later. Wait a klik - "You are speaking Minicon."

Vector Prime merely chuckled. "No, this version of Cybertronian only sounds like it. I suspect in time it shall change to most other Cybertronian we have encountered."

Safeguard nodded as he shakily stood. As he did, he finally got a look at himself. He was like himself, but more spiky, pointed. More like a jigsaw puzzle now but he resembled the jet alt he'd had in Aurex. "I have a mouth?"

"Indeed. It makes you look personable." The Prime smirked a little at the deadpan look he got from his friend. "If you are wondering, yes, we are still able to powerlinx. Whatever ... power... brought you here, decided to see fit to restore that as well."

On his left arm, something shifted into a small recess. Safeguard's optics lit up and he happily climbed up to have a poke at it. It matched the linx port on his midsection exactly. "Looks different."

"Of course."

"Why?"

"The laws of this universe are different, little one." A new voice spoke up, a femme. Safeguard turned, shifting curiously. He knew this - this was another Original. He had a vague recollection of meeting this one before but...

"You are wrong gender."

"Safeguard!"

The newcomer just laughed. "Perhaps. Though, I come with a gift for you, young one." The femme held out two tiny cubes. One was a darker pink than the other and this was offered first. When safeguard had downed it, the normal energon was offered. The minicon drunk that rather easily. Satisfied, the femme nodded and headed out. She had a bar to run, after all, along with a young pair of twin Primes - who'd recently found their Lord Protector - to keep an optic on while Prima was away.

"In this universe, she is the right gender."

Safeguard just grinned and shook his head. Originals were confusing. Not that it stopped him from cuddling up against his partner. The Prime simply sighed and pet him a little. Time would tell how this ended, though an exploration of the minicon's base coding was needed.

Later, when Solus was around.

/-/-/

Solus sighed, pushing away from the console as it displayed readout after readout after impossible readout. But that was part and parcel of dealing with anything Unicronian and somewhere, she knew this wasn't the first time, but frag her if she could her finger on just /why/ she knew that. The coding was both amazing and frightening; she wasn't sure if she should be amazed, sickened or awed by what had been done.

Perhaps all of them was the correct response, but after seeing what she'd seen and reading the very nature of the creature's inner most codes -

She exhaled, optics darkening. She wouldn't want a minicon linking with her, regardless of the benefits the small things held. That it was a Giant Planet minicon only made it worse and she couldn't even begin to comprehend just why Vector had allowed it in the first place. To have anything Uncronian attached to her… The femme shivered. It wasn't the poor thing's fault; logically, she knew that. But a lifetime of conditioning told her that anything related to the Dark One - Chaos Bringer - was evil, vile and wrong, a corruption of Life and what was Truth.

Unfortunately, they now had proof of just how right that was.

"Solus?"

"Vector. You came at a good time. Walk with me?" The weaponsmith pushed herself up, ignoring the glance her sibling gave to the prone minicon hooked up to her machines. If he noticed her shudder, he didn't comment on it.

"That is his spark?"

"Yes. That's part of what I want to talk about. We'd always assumed minicons to have sparks like ours. This… He took sparks and twisted them in a perversion of what should be. I've never seen anything like it." A gesture to the swirling black mess of a spark that sat in the open chamber, several cables hooked into it. She ignored the look on his face and headed up towards the surface of the planet. "It's not quite what an original minicon's would be, based on the data you gave me, but it does explain how they have that power."

"Due to the Gigantion construction?"

"I would assume so. The deeper I looked the more disturbing things became. He should be like the rest of his race, equivalent to what we'd term an adult. He's not." At Vector's blink, the femme continued on. "He is mature, certainly, but his basic processor construction remains on a second vorn youngling level. A mutation due to his origins, I'd assume."

"A kin to that of a human child's. It does explain much." The older by several breems prime nodded and at Solus's confused look, he chuckled. "A team of minicon's I was responsible for in the Aurex cluster behaved more like children than Safeguard ever has. When Jolt's CPU was scanned, it was likened to that of a child's, something that while unexpected, was not investigated due to pressing matters. I assumed Safeguard to be different, given his actions and maturity."

"It could lo have been due to his work on Gigantion." Solus didn't ask why it wasn't investigated. It could have been a number of reasons and she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"Perhaps." It sounded reasonable. Vector knew that Safeguard had been responsible for the some of the most dangerous detail work-teams before they'd partnered. That alone would have necessitated a more mature personality at the very least. "What of the coding? Is there a chance to reverse what was imposed on him?"

She shook her head. "I'd run the risk of killing him. I... will not take that chance. Nor shall Nexus. The code's mutated over the generations too..."

Vector knew what his sister meant. She created. She didn't take life. He wouldn't ask it of her, nor Nexus. "Perhaps Logos..."

"Logos," Solus looked sharply at the older prime. "Would not know how to code things if it bit zir in the aft. No. The mutation is beyond zir skills."

"Very well, sister." Vector nodded. Solus had a point. Logos's own coding left much to be desired in zir work; he would not chance Safeguard's safety. "That would make sense. The Giant planet was lost soon after the spacebridge network was established in his home cluster and the first minicon's accompanied the ships there."

Solus nodded. "There is more, brother. Where normally the link would terminate on the death of the bulk, the gigantion mutation twisted the very nature of the link's base codes on the side of a minicon - and the amount of power he provides when attached to the powerport. Linking with you mutated it further due to our very nature. He'll never have another bulk. I'm sorry, brother."

Vector was silent for a while as he mulled it over. So it was he'd suspected. He allowed a bitter, if not triumphant smile; even though the minicon was Unicronian, he served Primus. A meagre pittance for the damages done in Aurex, but one that Vector was willing to take. "I see. Perhaps it s Primus's will."

Solus only offered a sympathetic smile. "One can hope. Should I wake him?"

"No I have much to think on for the moment. I shall collect him soon enough."

"Of course."

/-/-/

Time passed, as it always did. Some wounds healed, others...

"Master Prime! Master Prime!"

"Hmm? What is Skyfire?"

"You are leaving." Came the accusing tone of Safeguard from within the Seeker's grasp.

"For the moment, yes."

"Again. You are leaving." Safeguard's voice cracked and both Seeker and Prime winced.

"It is a battle that you cannot help with, young one." He wished he could take his words back as soon as he said them, for his minicon's optics hardened into cold daggers.

"You do not want me."

Those words hurt. The Original bowed his head, intakes cycling in a sigh. "That is not true. I shall return. "

"No, you won't." Safeguard struggled in the Seeker's grip, optics holding that light - the light that Vector knew was from when the bond had been so stretched back in the Aurex cluster. Not for the first time, he wished he knew where Unicron's spark was so he could shove Rhysling and Calibre though it. Face unreadable, he wordlessly held his hand out. Skyfire relaxed his grip on his Master's tiny companion who darted to the hand, then up to where the hidden linkage port was, tapping at it. It opened, though reluctantly, and the minicon shifted forms, linxing. If one didn't know about him, they'd assume he was simply a part of the Prime.

_Next time, Skyfire, put him into medical recharge. This is the fifth time_.

_Of course, Master_.

Satisfied with the answer, Vector waved his hand in dismissal and turned to go. As much as he didn't want to involve Safeguard in this battle, he wouldn't force the worry, the panic and uncertainty that he wouldn't see Vector again, on his minicon. It was wrong, cruel and he had no wish to deepen any psychological scars. Nor did he have a way, as of yet, to prove to the minicon that he would return. It was hard enough to get Safeguard into the medical bays at times for check ups and to keep him out of the Temple when he was communing with the AllSpark. The minicon had become clingy.

He couldn't blame him.

But one day he would find away to undo the damages wrought by the coding.

****End chapter one****

Thoughts? Comments? Feedback on how I'm handling things?

Next chapter will focus on Solus, Prima and Logos, along with Soundwave and another techno/telepath and how they actually came to be. (no, it's not who you'll all expect.)


	2. Even Angels Fall

**(Of fallen Primes and slow burning plots.)**  
"What's the matter?" Solus leaned over her fellow Prime's shoulder as arms slid around his neck in a familiar embrace. It was nice to be alone, just the two of them. Maximo - their Lord Protector (or Lord rod-up-his-aft, according to Megatronus)- was off tinkering with the planet wide data hub. The rest of their sibling units were elsewhere and she had nothing pressing to attend to now the latest issue regarding the energon supply was resolved.

But she knew the skirmishes would only keep happening if they did not find away to deal with it, soon.

Their planet was dying and they seemed powerless to prevent it.

It was why she was visiting her lover, well, other than a simple desire to spend time with him.

"Any change?"

"The star we harvested was _not_ enough." Megatronus tapped the data screen, pointing to the read-outs that monitored the Allspark. The input readings barely kept pace with the output; though that was only taking into consideration how much was needed to keep the planet alive. If they factored the life forms on the planet, then it was a nightmare: Starvation was barely kept at bay. "We _need_ to harvest again, soon or Cybertron shall _die_."

"All our Seekers are scouring the heavens..." Solus looked over the data with a small frown. She didn't like what she saw. "Perhaps if we shut down some of the mines and allow the reserves to fill...?"

"Then we would _starve_. Our mines on the moons are ill-equipped and expanding them faster than we are would lead to disaster." He tapped his chin in thought. "We require a new star to orbit _at the very least_. The white dwarf is near the end of its life."

"A young one, yes." Solus nuzzled him a little. Swapping out the stars shouldn't be that hard - between her, Nexus, Boltax and Vector it was do-able... at a cost. But it would be do-able. "Shall I talk to the priests?"

"Do so. They may offer insight into this... Issue." That wouldn't _be_ an _issue_ if his fellow Primes would simply _do_what was _needed_. No matter for now. He'd have time enough to ponder it soon. For now, he'd allow the rest of the set to play _god_ with everyone's lives while _he_ and his loyal hand picked followers worked out a more_permanent_ solution to their troubles. "You never did tell me what Vector wanted."

"To look over his pet's coding." The female Prime made a face.

"What do you make of it?"

"It's Unicronian."

"We killed him. How." In all actuality, they'd managed to fling the planet eater to the furthest corners of the universe but that was a good as killing him or so the Allspark had whispered to him.

Solus shrugged. "Vector never said. Skyfire's been swore to secrecy."

"And he keeps it around." Megatronus frowned. Yet _another _thing he'd have to ask the Allspark about. His list was growing.

"Strange. But it's of little concern and won't help in figuring out the answer to our problems." She untangled herself from him and stretched before smiling. "Nighthawk returns. Will you accompany me?"

Megatronus nodded, stood and followed the slightly smaller of them out. Hopefully the Seeker would have some news that was worthwhile.

If not, he had his own Seekers he could use in finding more _suitable_ stars that would grant them the power they_required_ to truly _live_.

* * *

"_What_ have you _done_, my Prime? Why does the Allspark _weep_ into the priests minds?"

Megatronus stared into the optics of Maximo. "Only what was _necessary_ to save our planet, Lord Protector."

"It is _not_ our way to _kill_ life-bearing systems." Solus' gold optics were judging - like everyone else's- but the Fallen Prime shrugged it off. To falter now would be to admit the bonds, the restrictions on his powers; to admit that the Allspark was correct in it's assumptions. It would be to admit he was just as _shackled_ as his sibling units. But - was it truly right to so chain them to this _façade_ of _existence_?

They had a _paradise_, yes, but it was fragile and breakable, even with the new sun they now orbited; to remove the Allspark from the Simfur Temple would be suicide - even the Allspark admitted that. The sun was young, barely capable of supporting them but it was.. enough._ For now_.

But what when it wasn't? when demand again outstripped supply? Would they _again_ oppose him?

They _would_. They would try and bind him to their laws, Laws that would see a race _starve_ as their planet_withered_ and _died_.

He could see it on Maximo's face and Vector's. On his sister's as she looked up at the stars in thought. Even Prima, as vaunted and powerful as she was, was blinkered and could see _nothing_ but the so called sorrow he'd created. He'd created life - the Allspark had thrummed with the power, had _congratulated_ him and yet they said it wept.

They were wrong. They were fools and he'd enjoy tearing their sparks out and taking their weapons for himself. The Star Sabre would unravel the binds that had been placed on him, the unspoken words of morality - or the shreds that were left. He would keep his own code, but he'd be so much more. He would be the single Prime that ruled Cybertron.

And he'd show them why they were _wrong_ to bind the powers so.

"Megatronus?"

He turned, optics landing on Prima. "Yes."

"I asked you, did we not agree to harvest only stars who's systems hold no life?"

"Forgive me. Jetfire did not sweep the system properly." The Fallen Prime, the Allspark's 'chosen', gestured to his kneeling Seeker. "I assumed... "

"Do _we_ not _also_ sweep the systems our Seekers report back to us?"

Megatronus bowed his helm in supplication to his Lord Protector, feeling the bindings of the Triad working on him, seeking to level him off. He closed his mind to them, pretended they worked when he wanted nothing more than to be free of them. It was a moral centre a God did not need and yet more bindings that held his true power in check. "Jetfire has never failed in his mission before."

"Perhaps the Seeker is faltering in his task." Boltax looked down at the kneeling form with an icy glare. "Or he did not sweep the system close enough."

"Be that as it may, the Seeker has only failed once. Clip his wings and warping for an orn." Prima waved her hand, the matter moot now she'd passed judgement and Megatronus smirked mentally. The very idea that his Seeker might be taking the blame for _his_ wrongs never even crossed her mind. Foolish, stupid. "It won't fail again. What of the power? Is that not-"

"_No_ power was gained from the decision, only _sorrow_." Prima stared hard at her brother until he looked away, helm ducking again. "The Harvesters shall only be activated when all of us are present. _Is that clear_?"

"Crystal." In his mind, a plan started to form.

It would take time, but he would crush them. His fellow Primes had _failed_ the planet and he was the only one who was capable of doing what _needed to be done_. He would slaughter them and rule this planet as it should be or see it burn to slag around him.

* * *

In the end, Megatronus chose again to betray them. He'd lured them through time itself - in a gross abuse of his full power -to a small world on the outskirts of the galaxy. There, the final stand between his supporters and their own had taken place.

It had been costly and energon stained the rocks the Harvester sat on.

But it was _over_.

_Over_ and Cybertron would never again face such a threat. The mere idea that her own sibling had turned against his own, claiming to be acting on the will of the Allspark was _ludicrous_, but it had happened.

But, now, _it was over_.

The silver form panted as knees hit the ground and she slumped, that single thought reverberating around her processors, even as intakes desperately tried to cool an overheated and overtaxed frame.

The Star Sabre dropped from her hand, the Matrix - a mirror twin of the Harvester Key - glinted on it's hilt. Behind her, the Fallen's sarcophagus hit the ground in a cloud of dirt, the being inside powerless to escape the dimensional prison It'd taken almost all of their power to seal him and so much luck on her part. Her surviving siblings - those who'd not sacrificed themselves to seal the harvester-key - gathered around her. She simply shook her head and stood, hiding her wince. Though, there was no denying the battle had taken it's toll on her in a number of ways. She couldn't look around her, not when the bodies of so many of the children lay scattered across the final battlefield.

Seekers, workers, followers and even a few priests. The fight had been indiscriminate and brutal. But some still lived; Sonar amongst them, along with Nightscream and Air Raid to name a few. Prima couldn't bring herself to look at Sonar, the youngling in shock as her system's struggled to comprehend the fact that the Original she'd been Sparked to serve was no more.

The surviving children were equally in shock. She couldn't blame them. To witness the moment of the First's fall...

Bitterness welled up inside her, but she shook that away.

A glance at her siblings showed their reactions to the loss. Vector was stony faced, though his optics were a whirl of pain as the primal systems that had designated a Ruling Triad (there had been four of them in the set plus Trion) slowly clicked off. She knew the loss hurt. She knew it would take them time to adjust to no longer having the emotional checks that their Triad Prime/s and or Lord Protector provided.

Logos looked like ze was taking it hard. She offered a sad smile to the Prime, only to be rebuffed with a mix of rage, anger, hate and pain.

Rung seemed to have shut down, but she didn't doubt he was rationalising everything. It wouldn't be so bad on him; He was a Lord Protector but he would still have to cope like the rest of them. They couldn't just form a new Triad. Being a Prime or Lord Protector didn't work like that.

She dared not look at her own systems.

They would cope in their own ways. They had to, at least until the three returned to Cybertron to pass the torch to the next generation. After that, it was unknown what would happen.

"I'll stay here. Guard them and the Leadership Matrix." She couldn't go back to Cybertron. She'd failed. _This_was her penance.

"Sister..."

"Mistress Prime..." Air Raid blinked at his Prime, only to fall silent when she offered him a sad smile.

"No. Someone must. I am not fit to be leader if I allowed this happen." Now that it was over, she could see that how the betrayal had unfold and it hurt. She blamed herself for it, but no-one could have really seen what was to happen. He'd hidden it so well. Her remaining optic stared up at Vector before the leader of the Thirteen turned. "Take it back to Cybertron. Bury it. Hide him away so that none might fall under his accursed influence."

But she could not - would never order the executions of the innocents Megatronus had drawn under his sway. They knew no better and with their leader gone, they were no threat.

"Of course." Vector nodded. He wasn't going to argue with her. They'd all lost something this day and he could understannd anger ad her rage at her failures. He too was blaming himself for the events that had transpired. "What of energon?"

"I have stores enough in my sarcophagus to last me. Go." A wave of dismissal.

"I shall stay." Air Raid levelled a Look at Prima, who simply nodded, bemused at the daring of the red and black Seeker.

Vector bowed, then nodded to Logos, Rung and the rest of the Seekers and children that remained. Together, with the Fallen's prison, they were gone in a crackle of spacebridging and warping that would see the return to their original time in the past. Prima and Air Raid watched them go, optics unreadable before the silver Prime turned and limped away. "Gather them up. I shall find enough wood to melt them down."

The flier nodded. "Yes, Mistress Prime."

He watched her go before he started his task of gathering the dead.

Later, as metal burned within fires that rose high over the primitive landscape, Air Raid turned to his mistress. "Why did you not kill him?"

"He is still my brother. Trapped, he can do no harm."

"What of what corrupted him?"

The silver Prime looked heavenward and heaved a sigh. ".. I.. do not know. Perhaps it shall return."

"Should you no-"

"As I said, it is not my time to lead." Prima shook her head. "I am no seer, but I know my place is here, watching, guarding. Waiting for the day when one who seeks the Light of Leadership for intentions pure comes. They _will_come, just as what happened to us will come a full circle, as it _must_."

Even if it never comes and she would prefer it to never come, but she was also realistic.

"You sound like a seer, Mistress Prime."

"I am hardly one, but I know well the threat that still remains. I could not kill him, merely seal him." She didn't have to be a seer to know that they had only bought precious time. She didn't need to be a seer to know that eventually, evil _would_ return for a frightening and deadly conclusion. She didn't have to be a seer to pray that her race would have the strength to face it all over again. She could only hope they did.

"Of course."

Prima offered a humourless smile as her answer before she turned and limped towards the nearby cave system. "Guard me well, my Seeker."

Elsewhere on the planet, a lone Seeker looked out at the world, optics burning with betrayal as he nursed a hatred of his former master deep within his spark. But, as injured as he was, there was nothing for him to do other than wait and watch.

* * *

So, here you have it, the very basic bare bones plot of Wait for Me, minus all the other subplots and machinations that are going on. As for who Prima is talking about... well that would be telling.

You are welcome to guess though! For now though, I need to go wrangle my technopaths. *jaws theme*

Comments are encouraged because everyone likes knowing people have enjoyed their work.


	3. Spark-drone

**Notes**: This is set at the end of approx. the forth generation of Primes.

**(This was creepy as hell to write.)**  
Generations of Primes rose and fell as the vorns, megavorns and teravorns marched on, time never halting for anyone. Time did not heal wounds; it simply scabbed them over and buried them.

But they **never** healed.

The remaining Originals buried the Fallen's prison and passed the reigns on to Nova, Nemesis and Jhiaxus; It was done within the cycle they returned to Cybertron. They then faded out of sight as they hid themselves away and came to terms with what had happened; Vector kept his distance, though allowed Safeguard to interact as the minicon pleased. Of everyone, Vector seemed to be the most adjusted. Rung theorised that it was likely because of the minicon there to act as an anchor. No-one knew and no-one cared.

Rung changed his frame and name then slipped into Cybertronian society without a backwards glance. Several Seekers followed him out of loyalty and treated him like a Prime, and perhaps in Whirl's mind, the Lord Protector was. Rung was there in history, but he avoided conflicts as best he could. Involving himself wasn't an option on for many reasons, and by the end of the 3rd Dynasty, he'd made a niche for himself under a new name and new life. It wouldn't last forever but if Rung wanted to delude himself, then so be it.

Logos didn't care what zir sibling units did as long as they left zir alone. The pain from the broken, aching links had faded, but they had left damage.

Ze'd been driven to the edge of madness.

It didn't matter. None of it mattered any-more after what had happened, of what they had been though.

Revenge _wouldn't_ bring back what was missing. Nor would it take a way the pain of the broken links. Nothing would, yet.

So, ze threw zirself head long into experimentations with coding. Over the teravorns that followed, Logos created hundreds of frames and imbued them with life. Most of them were failures; several survived – one even going so far as to have been claimed by the technopath Rampage. That had been a fun time, for all it lasted. But in the end they all died.

One way or the other; A defect in the coding, the spark guttered when he removed its casing from the hatchlings, it didn't take to the new shell, the drone coding strangled the spark or some such nonsense. But each error and setback proved _insightful_ and every time zir was on the verge of getting caught, ze simply moved.

Sometimes they simply exploded, leaving a charred wreck of a frame behind.

But not this one. Ze'd changed zir designs and upgraded the newest hatchling while still in it's pod. It'd been kept in stasis throughout the process and it seemed to have helped. The coding modifications had been copied from another hatching – a telepathic technopath who'd died in one of the earlier experiments – then amplified and refined. The simulations had proven it to be a success.

And now the readouts that monitored the blue form a the protective gel drained away proclaimed the same.

Cybetron's first created technopath would need a name fitting for the role Logos had in mind for it.

* * *

_Initiating..._|  
_Spark online._|  
_Drone coding integrated._|  
_Sensory uplink complete. _|  
_Data storage online..._|  
_Technopathic capacities online._|  
_Menagerie units: not found._|  
_Menagerie protocols activated._|  
Initiating data integration cycle...|  
_Data integration completed._|  
_Spark within normal parameters._|

_Unit designation: ..._|

/-

The visor flared red as the spark took to the frame and coding.

Within kliks the bootup sequence had completed and the one standing above nodded in satisfaction. The newly onlined mech allowed himself to be hauled up, protocols identifying the odd Cybertronian as his master.

Data streamed in and the new technopath could do nothing but let it wash over him. The thoughts and voices of the masses were open to him – his master's mind open – and for several kliks, he struggled to control the impulse to reach out and read the data. To pillage the minds of all around him for information.

He failed.

His senses brushed against his Master's mind -

**/**_Happiness smug-pleasure-and-pride lots-of-pride exasperation-and-amusement-at-newest-toy - pain-pain-pain loss not-whole-never-whole-again loss-of-stabilising-forces hurt blame-falls-on-Prima revenge-desired no wait-watch-learn create-more-experiments newest-toy-is-success it-will-help this-is-good –_**/**

-he physically reeled back from the onslaught of information that a single word contained. It was like a web, meaning spread out before him, but every new word brought more meaning until the web was _impossible_ to navigate, let alone make _sense_ of.

It left him with a processor ache and he wisely withdrew, shaking his head as if that would help. His back rippled as tentacles retracted into the protective casing that was his frame.

His master chuckled. "We must leave."

The new mech didn't question, simply obeyed the order from his master. He stumbled yes, but soon found his legs and hurried after the Prime, even as he heard the thoughts of mechoids nearby and the temptation to reach out with his sensors yet again and glean what information he could hovered in front of him still.

He was a technopath. One of those feared by Cybertronians. Why?

It wasn't important. Reading another's mind right now wasn't important. He'd defend himself if needed, but the hows and whys of the technicalities he now faced were unimportant. The important data was in his datatracks. He accessed it, even as they walked thought the tunnels of Iacon. He'd created to serve. He was the eyes and ears, the ultimate spy for his master.

He was created – coded – a technopath for that reason. He found no reason not to believe that.

He found he liked that idea. But then, why shouldn't he? He was a drone, granted a spark so that he might take initiative in his mission and better serve his master, but he was a drone at the core. To dislike a mission was foolish. Unthinkable.

Blasphemy and treachery weren't something he'd been created for.

Slowly, they moved away from the cacophony of thoughts and voices and information, all save one, but he would never read that mind again; it was forbidden. The initial reading had been expected. How could something so new control it's powers in the first breams of life. But now that the time had passed, he was expected – no, commanded – to never read Logos' mind again.

The drone would obey.

It took them cycles to leave the confines of the city. The drone didn't understand why his master didn't use ze powers. The drone didn't question though.

"Your first two." His master pointed out into the wilds that teamed with life.

Menagerie units. The Sparkdrone tilted his head to the side. There were a lot of choices he could have. "Options: Limited?"

"No."

The spark-drone nodded. He didn't need to know what was going on. He simply scanned the wilds, picking out what he felt would work.

His scans fell on a cybercat and cyberhawk; he didn't think, simply send a subsonic blast to disorientate them. "Units: Selected."

His master nodded and the bluish satellite made his way to the fallen animals. His master followed, but the drone didn't care. If the Prime was curious, then so be it. A glance over the animals and the technopath nodded.

"Unit designates: Ravage. Laserbeak. Acceptable?"

"Yes."

He nodded and placed a hand over their heads as tendrils of wire slithered out of his hand and embedded themselves into the mechnoids helms. Modifying them was a simple enough task given all he had to do was reach in and tempter with the core coding. The more invasive modifications and upgrades would have to wait until he had the means to do so, but already he was uploading the required data. The primitive intellect they had was ruthlessly pushed aside, as were their complaints of pain.

They were _his_; what they wanted right now did not matter. What he, the master wished, was far more important.

The coding for the links took. He'd known they would. No-one would ever deny him. Why should they, when he was one of the most powerful psions on the face of Cybertron? There would only be one that surpassed him and he was still a glimmer in the threads of a destiny that were indecipherable on an individual level.

Something akin to pleasure wormed its way into his field, even as the first of what would be a dozen menagerie-links stirred to life, pulsing with confusion and fear.

The technopath touched their minds, calming them with ease.

"Come. Trypticon awaits."

"As you command, Master Prime." He held his arm out and the cyberhawk landed on it. Distantly, he noted that it was a female. Hmm. No matter. It changed nothing.

Just as he was the eyes and ears to a Prime, these menagerie-units would be his eyes and ears. There would be _nothing_ he did not know.

_Unit designation: Soundwave._|  
_Accepted._|

* * *

_Not much to say here other than Soundwave is creepy and this idea was dug up out of the archives of the original Wait For Me and expanded. The only technopath who is stronger than Soundwave is Heretech/Tarn, so that should give you an idea of how strong Soundwave is._

_Now I need to get back to poking at my Jazz muse/s. I know one of them is hiding OT4 stuff._


End file.
